Smithsonian launches marine effort with $10M gift

October 25, 2012
by Brett Zongker

(AP)—The Smithsonian is launching a new initiative to study coastal waters and create the first global network monitoring climate change and human impacts on ocean life with a $10 million gift.

Los Angeles hedge fund manager Michael Tennenbaum is announcing the donation Thursday. He says long-term data is needed to raise the level of dialogue about climate change and biodiversity.

The project will begin with five marine observatories, studying plants and animals in the Chesapeake Bay, Fort Pierce, Fla., and sites in Belize and Panama. The Smithsonian plans to add 10 more stations within a decade, using federal money, partners and fundraising.

The enormous trees forming rainforest canopies bear little resemblance to their seedlings, many described for the first time in the new field guide, "Seedlings of Barro Colorado Island and the Neotropics," published in July ...

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A Smithsonian scientist and colleague report that a potentially harmful, invasive crab species that has spread to several countries is now established and reproducing in Panama. The researchers report that Harris mud crabs ...

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